5 Real Ways To Make Money Online

by Graeme Sandlin ·
Published January 28, 2015
· Updated January 28, 2015

The internet is an amazing place where anyone can earn a living doing something they love. Although we live in a world that almost demands instant gratification, with a little time and patience, you can earn a good living just by working on the internet.

How do I know this? In 2014, I made as much from working on the internet at home as I did at my last full-time “traditional” job.

If you’re just getting started with an at-home opportunity, then here are some of the best tools for you to consider using. Many of these have helped me establish my new career over the last 4 years so that I really can enjoy more time with my four kids.

Many people know about the fact that Amazon allows you to publish your own e-books and sell them online through their marketplace. This literally means that anyone can become a published author today. What you may not know is that Amazon is taking script solicitations for TV shows and movies that can be independently produced. All it takes is one good idea that sells and you could have upwards of $60k just sitting in your bank account – no agent needed.

There are a lot of people who are frustrated with Fiverr, but I’m not one of them. Of course you must pick and choose carefully the freelancers you hire for work, but the same is true if you were going to hire someone locally to get a job done. Improvements have been made over the last 3 years so that sellers are rated more specifically, add-ons can make jobs more specific, and orders can be modified if they don’t meet your satisfaction. Top sellers on Fiverr are earning $30k-$40k per year.

The problem with Etsy is timing. You can go an entire year and only sell a handful of your arts and crafts. Then you get one sale from one influential person and you can ramp up the production of items in no time at all. If you are already working full-time and have a hobby on the side, then this might be the best platform to use. List your items for less than eBay, have automatic renewals on items that don’t sell, and you can create to decompress after a long day at work and potentially earn some spare cash. Top sellers on Etsy are clearing $250k per year.

There are a number of niche crowdfunding sites on the internet today, so Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe don’t have to be the standby options any more. As a writer myself, I really love what Pubslush has to offer. If this had been around back when I was publishing books, I wouldn’t have had to hit up family and friends [plus work bunches of OT hours] to raise the capital needed. With crowdfunding, authors can get the same kind of upfront advance that a traditional publisher would give, write their next great novel, and then distribute it to supporters, publishers, agents, or their neighbor. There’s no 100% guarantees in crowdfunding, of course, but it has become a viable option to establish a business today.

If you’re making money on the internet, then you should probably be saving money on the internet as well. There are a number of online brokers to use and some are cheaper than TD Ameritrade, but after trying several of them, I have found them to be the best. The online research tools for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds is comprehensive and written in such a way that it actually makes sense to the average person. Update articles on market conditions happen daily, sometimes hourly, and you get to be in control of your retirement account.

One note: If you use a digital cash account, like PayPal, then transferring cash to your TD Ameritrade account isn’t very easy. You’ll want a traditional bank account that you can funnel cash through.

These are the ways that I’ve found that work for making money on the internet. What are some of your favorite sites that help you make some cash? Share your favorites below.